Metamorphosis: The Beauty and Design of Butterflies
Throughout history butterflies have fascinated artists and philosophers, scientists and school children with their profound mystery and beauty. In Metamorphosis you will explore their remarkable world as few ever have before.DVD/Blu-Ray

Flight: The Genius of Birds
It is one thing to understand the argument for design but quite another to be lifted to new heights of wisdom and knowledge. “Flight: The Genius of Birds” does just that. In a word: stunning!

RealScience-4-Kids is a comprehensive science curriculum geared toward the elementary grade levels. The Elementary level introduces Chemistry, Biology and Physics concepts, while the Middle School level moves to basic Chemistry, Biology and Physics, with Level II expanding on the Middle School Chemistry curriculum. RealScience introduces fundamental concepts to form a solid science foundation.

The RealScience curriculum is supplemented by the Kogs-4-Kids workbook set. Kogs-4-Kids helps students make cognitive connections between the scientific discipline they are studying and other disciplines such as critical thinking, language, technology, the arts, philosophy, and history.

A Unique Approach to Teaching Science
Science is an area where most homeschool parents feel overwhelmed and
under qualified, but it doesn't have to be that way. The goal of this
curriculum is to provide the basic knowledge and structure so that every
homeschool teacher, no matter what his or her background, can give students
a good understanding of what science is and what it says about the world
around us. The main purpose
of the curriculum is not to turn every student into a scientist. Rather
we hope to equip students (and teachers!) with enough foundational knowledge
so that they can think critically about the world around them and evaluate
for themselves the various claims and counter-claims they will encounter
in daily life.

Despite the
volume of science information available, the fundamental concepts are
simple and can be easily grasped even by the elementary school aged child.
By building a solid foundation in the basic science areas of Chemistry,
Biology and Physics, students will be able to understand a much broader
range of science topics. By thinking critically about the nature of scientific investigation,
students will gain an appreciation for both the exciting conclusions and
predictions of science and the limitations of scientific explanation.

Evolution (in any sense of the term, but particularly the concept of universal common ancestry) points back to the origin of life which in turn points back to the origin of all physical reality in the finite past. No matter how you look at it, creation preceded evolution.

Quotes from prominent scientists and philosophers point to the creation of the universe including the diversity and disparity of life on Earth.

Exercise Your Wonder

THE WONDER OF THE HUMAN BODY
Dr. Howard Glicksman

Learn how the body works and the questions that need to be answered in order to verify the validity of macroevolution: the theory that all life developed solely by the undirected forces of natural selection acting on random mutation.

"I am well aware that scarcely a single point is discussed in this volume on which facts cannot be adduced, often apparently leading to conclusions directly opposite to those at which I have arrived. A fair result can be obtained only by fully stating and balancing the facts and arguments on both sides of each question, and this cannot possibly be done here."

Charles Darwin
Introduction
On the Origin of Species
1859

"Stasis is data"

"To know the reasons for infrequent change,
one must understand the ordinary rules of stability."

Stephen Jay Gould

Caught in the quicksand of philosophical naturalism, many scientists have been asking the wrong question: How can we explain the origin of everything naturalistically.The problem is that, naturalism collapses into either an unscientific or oxymoronic belief that our observable universe has always existed (in spite of the Big Bang and 2nd Law of Thermodynamics) or that nature had a natural cause (when nature didn't exist to cause anything).

Scientists would be much better off explaining how nature functions rather than trying to rationize a belief in philosophical naturalism. Given the explosive appearance of the animal phyla and the conservation of the major body plans through time, they should be asking what natural processes have inhibited major evolutionary change from occurring on a gradual step-by-step basis. Darwin was right in admitting that he could be wrong. Natural selection itself might better account for macrostasis than macroevolution. If so, we need a Theory of Conservation to better explain the "ordinary rules of stability." Ordinary rules are what real science is all about.

Below are recent headlines from other related weblogs. Click on the headline to read a story or the weblog name to see all the postings in that blog. Clicking on any of these links will cause you to leave the ARN website.

ID The Future podcast blog provides listeners with the most current news and views on evolution and ID through brief interviews with key scientists and scholars developing the theory of ID, as well as insightful commentary from Discovery Institute senior fellows and staff on the scientific, educational and legal aspects of the debate.

Uncommon Descent is a weblog founded by William Dembski to serve the Intelligent Design community.

Evolution News and Views is the Discovery Institute weblog dedicated to news analysis of media coverage of the debate over evolution.

Looking for more information on Intelligent Design?

Intelligent Design is the study of patterns in nature
that are best explained as the result of intelligence. ᾦ#65533; William A. Dembski

The theory of intelligent design holds that certain global features of the universe provide evidence for the existence of an intelligent cause, or that certain biologically innate features of living things provide evidence for the doctrine that the features are the result of the intentional actions of an intelligent cause which is not biologically related to the living things, and provide evidence against the doctrine that the features are the result of an undirected process such as natural selection. ᾦ#65533; Bradley Monton

The mention of it has been banned from some classrooms. People have lost their jobs for discussing it. A growing number of scientists are proponents of it. What exactly is intelligent design (ID) that it is causing such an uproar? For an excellent overview of the concepts and history of ID see the New World Encyclopedia online entry. Then when you are ready to dive into the details you can:

Go to the ARN ID link page with more links to get you up to speed quickly on intelligent design

Or continue browsing our vast web site and discover the hundreds of articles, books, videos, commentaries and news items available on this fascinating and timely topic.

ARN Announce Email Report

ARN Announce is a free subscription
service provided by Access Research Network. Designed to help keep our users
up-to-date on current events in the world of origins and design, ARN
Announce provides news on current events, new
product releases, educational resources, site updates, and more in a convenient and efficient manner.

These brief emails are sent out every month or two to help you keep up with the top intelligent design news and resources at a glance, and provide you with quick links to more information. We also provide you with advanced notice of new products and special sales available only to our email subscribers.

If you were asked to give three reasons why you believe that God created the universe in the finite past, how would you answer? How would you respond to someone who told you that life was ultimately the result of random chemical reactions? What would you say to someone who believes that microevolution can be extrapolated to account for the origin of the major body plans? Finally, why does any of this matter?

It is our hope that ARN can help you answer these questions and more.

If you have been to our website (www.arn.org) recently, you'll have noticed some changes. Most significantly, we have begun to offer our best lectures, interviews, and debates on YouTube. Seven programs are already available. Over the next two years, we hope to make our entire video collection - "Origins 101" - available free online.

While it is always a good idea to be ready to give an answer, it may be a better idea to point someone to some terrific resources featuring top-notch scholars and scientists. Ask your friends or co-workers to watch one of these videos and let the conversations begin.

We respect your right to privacy on the Internet. The
e-mail information on the ARN Announce news service is kept for
the purpose of the ARN Announce mailing only. This list will not
be provided to anyone outside of Access Research Network
for any reason, and will not be used for any other purpose than that outlined
on this page.

How
can you tell if something is designed? Isnt that pretty subjective?In our ID definition,
we note that intelligent design is much more modest than earlier versions of
design theory. But its also more powerful. Instead of looking for such
vague properties as "purpose" or "perfection"which
may be construed in a subjective senseit looks for the presence of what
it calls specified complexity, an unambiguously objective standard.That term sounds like a mouthful, but its something we can all recognize without effort. click for full section text

How
does intelligent design apply to biology?One of the central claims of intelligent design
(ID) is that "intelligent causes are necessary to explain the complex,
information-rich structures of biology." The more we learn about living organisms, the more they look like products
of design rather than products of chance and natural law. Ironically, many opponents
of intelligent design concede this fact. Of course, many biologists believe that the apparent
design of living things is an illusionproduced not by an intelligent source,
but by chance and natural law. click for full section text

Havent
scientists shown that biological systems evolved through strictly natural
processes?You will often hear that contemporary evolutionary theory is supported by overwhelming
evidence. Such "evidence" is not remotely decisive unless youve already
decided that only naturalistic causes could have created such organisms as fruit
flies, worms and humans. But thats precisely what is at issue. In fact, there is systematic evidence against contemporary evolution theory. Researchers in such fields as paleontology, embryology, microbiology,
biochemistry and genetics have uncovered systematic evidence that is deeply
at odds with naturalistic evolution. click for full section text

Doesnt
ID refer to something supernatural?From an ID perspective, the natural-vs.-supernatural distinction is irrelevant.
The real contrast is not between natural laws and miracles, but between
undirected natural causes and intelligent ones. Mathematician and philosopher of science William Dembski puts it this
way: "Whether an intelligent cause is located within or outside nature
(i.e., is respectively natural or supernatural) is a separate question from
whether an intelligent cause has operated." Human actions are a case in point: "Just as humans do not perform
miracles every time they act as intelligent agents, so there is no reason
to assume that for a designer to act as an intelligent agent requires a
violation of natural laws."click for full section text

Isnt
"intelligent design" another name for "scientific creationism?"The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the National Center for Science
Education (NCSE) and other organizations have tried to portray intelligent
design as another variant of scientific creationism. Although intelligent design is compatible with many "creationist"
perspectives, including scientific creationism, it is a distinct theoretical
position. This can be seen by comparing the basic tenets of each view.click for full section text

How
many scientists take this stuff seriously?Intelligent design is still a minority position, but even many scholars who
disagree with it are intrigued by the ideaand cant seem to get it
out of their minds. Biologist and philosopher of science Paul Nelson observed that despite opposition in the culture and in science, the intelligent
design movement will continue to grow.

Its not the kind of thing you change overnight, Nelson said.
But theres a steady, healthy growth of the intelligent design community,
where were bringing in a lot of people of diverse backgrounds and diverse
viewpoints. The little plant of intelligent design continues to flourish. click for full section text

Recommended Reading

Our recommended reading list has been moved to our new AMAZON STORE. Categories now include Worldviews, Origins, Science, History, and Education.

In the near future we plan to expand our own online library and add links to other valuable resources on the web including both articles and videos.

Donate On-line If you like what you find on the ARN web site, you can now help make more resources available with an on-line donation featuring secure credit card transactions. ARN is a 501 (c) non-profit organization and qualifies for tax-deductible donations.

Teach the Controversy ResourcesInformation on the Santorum Ammendment, Kansas School Board, Ohio Standards, and other "Teach the Controversy" related material.

Response to the PBS Evolution Project On September 24, 2001, PBS launched an 8-hour documentary series promoting Darwinism. The program will rerun often on PBS, is being promoted heavily to the public schools and can be ordered directly from PBS. (www.pbs.org/evolution/). As with the Carl Sagans Cosmos series two decades ago, the PBS Evolution Project comes across more as evangelism for the Darwinian worldview, than as rigorous, undebatable science. This program offers a great opportunity to teach your students critical thinking skills, so in keeping with ARN's goals of open and honest academic debate, we have compiled this page of analyses, commentaries, and critiques of the series.

Quicktime Video Interviews The ARN video page contains various interview clips which can be viewed through your web browser. Please note: These interviews are recorded in the Apple Quicktime format, and are optimized for downloading. The VHS versions (available from ARN) are of higher quality. To view the videos, you must have a current version of the Apple Quicktime Plug-In installed in your web browser.

Of Current Interest Featured on this page are articles, reviews, and other postings of current interest and significance that have recently appeared on the ARN Home page. Also listed are other recent additions to older areas of the site, and items with continuing additions.